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String Quartet in A major, Op 9 No 6

Introduction

With its bounding opening Presto in 6/8 time and featherweight finale, the A major quartet that rounds off the Op 9 set is something of a jeu d’esprit. Hunting calls and musette drones give the first movement a delightful alfresco flavour. While the minuet is the most leisurely and galant of the six, the trio, in A minor, is the most sophisticated, quirkily irregular in its phrasing, and teasing the listener with silence and unexpected turns of harmony. The Adagio, a graceful bel canto aria underpinned by murmuring triplets, is yet another vehicle for Tomasini to display his sweet tone and refined taste. For his envoi Haydn writes a fleeting, frolicking Presto in binary dance form, plus a disproportionately long coda (21 bars out of a total of 53) that comically protracts the final cadence.

Recordings

'I quickly warmed to the pure, glowing sound of gut strings played perfectly in tune, and to the ensemble's delicacy of nuance and sensitivity to harm ...'A sonority that seems brighter and less astringent than that produced by 'period' ensembles, but one that is still far closer to what we assume to be ...» More